


Sleep Song

by jynx



Series: Music Soothes the Savage Beast [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Cody is demanding, Gen, Obi-Wan mourns with music, Sassy Obi-Wan, maybe songfic?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 16:56:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14815244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jynx/pseuds/jynx
Summary: After a battle gone wrong, Sawbones and Obi-Wan mourn their lost.





	Sleep Song

**Author's Note:**

> Song is "Sleepsong" by Secret Garden :)

Medical on the _Negotiator_ was overflowing with wounded after a less than wonderful engagement with Grievous and his droid army. Clones--men, brothers--had died by the dozen, and more were expected to pass overnight. Sawbones was conscripting any able-bodied brother who had even the smallest amount of medical training into helping him deal with the wounded. 

Most of their command structure had been hit by a surprise attack and while they were still miraculously alive--he'd eat his bucket if the General hadn't done something with the Force to protect everyone--they were badly hurt. Sawbones was working on Commander Cody himself, barking orders as he stitched and plugged. The General, less bloody but more crispy, was on a bed nearby so he could keep an eye on the brother dousing him in bacta. 

Sawbones had seen too much to be especially religious, or believe in much of anything, but he prayed to his General's Force, to the gods his brothers believed in, to anything and everything that was listening to just let the 212th make it through one more night. He begged whatever, whoever was listening to grant them that one kindness in a galaxy so determined to grind them into so much dust. 

At some point he had staggered into a corner of the medbay and fallen asleep, still covered in blood and who knew what else, but when he woke next it was to the feel of a hand lightly passing over his hair. He looked up, eyes gritty from too little sleep, and found the General out of bed. 

"Shh," Kenobi murmured softly, before he could start yelling. "I'm all right. Most of us are all right, thanks to you." 

Sawbones tried to swallow and found his mouth too dry to do so. 

"Come," Kenobi said, helping him to stand. "There's no sense for me to be in that bed right now, Sawbones, and you know it. Take it and rest. We need you too much to let you run yourself down." 

"G-general," he rasped out. 

Kenobi led him to the bed and gently pushed him into it before handing him something to drink. Sawbones was too tired to fight him and sat, drinking the water. He watched as the General beckoned over a Shiny, asking for either a spare set of blacks or a bowl of water, and off the Shiny ran. Sawbones didn't know what the General wanted with either but the General was an odd one sometimes. 

"Thank you," Kenobi said, snickering. "I like being a little odd." 

"Er, sorry, sir," Sawbones said. 

Kenobi came close and started petting Sawbones's hair again. "Is this all right?" he asked. "Cody likes this sometimes, when things are rough or he's overly tired and cranky." 

Sawbones closed his eyes and leaned into the gently touch. It was nice, the petting, the simple connecting to another human being. "'Snice, sir," he mumbled. Kenobi tugged him close so his head was resting against the General's stomach and continued petting his hair, nails dragging gently against his scalp. It felt wonderful. 

Kenobi pulled away at some point and Sawbones was ashamed that he whined in protest, but in his defense, he was tired and he was comfortable leaning forward like that. He could probably fall asleep leaning into the General's soft warmth. 

"C'mon, you," the General said with affection. "Clean blacks and then you can lie down for some real sleep." 

Sawbones blinked at him and the folded blacks the Shiny had obviously fetched--the poor brother was still hovering close by. Maybe he wasn't a Shiny, actually, because he did have some ink on his face but Sawbones couldn't make his eyes focus enough to make it out properly. He let the General and his brother help him out of the bloody blacks and into the clean ones, a wet cloth fetched to help wipe away the worst of the leftover mess, and then he was bundled into the bed. The Shiny saluted them both before making a quick escape off to...wherever Shinies lived when not in medical. 

"You should be resting too," Sawbones muttered as a last protest, rolling onto his side and curling up. 

There was the sound of a chair being dragged over--between the bed where Sawbones was and where Commander Cody was--and then there was a hand in his hair again. "I will rest, no worry, but I want to… I want to remember who we lost and remind myself who still lives." 

"General," Sawbones said, opening his eyes and struggling to sit up. 

"Peace," Kenobi said, standing and easing Sawbones back to the bed. "Peace, Sawbones, it's all right. We all mourn in our own way." Sawbones lay back down, frowning, but watching the thoughtful look on his General's face. Cody was so much better at kicking their General's ass when he got all maudlin on them. "There is a song, actually, though I forget the exact origin of it at this point. Would you like to hear it?" 

Sawbones smiled and closed his eyes. "You know how much we love hearing you sing, sir." 

Kenobi hummed softly for a moment before the words began washing over Sawbones. 

" _Lay down your head and I'll sing you a lullaby <br> Back to the years of loo-li lai-lay<br> And I'll sing you to sleep and I'll sing you tomorrow<br> Bless you with love for the road that you go…_" 

Sawbones squeezed his eyes closed as he listened to the General's voice, softer than he normally sang, sad and mournful. It was benediction and love, hope and loss, and everything Sawbones didn't have a name for. 

" _May you bring love and may you bring happiness <br> Be loved in return to the end of your days<br> Now fall off to sleep, I'm not meaning to keep you<br> I'll just sit for a while and sing loo-li, lai-lay…_" 

He didn't realize he was crying until a rough voice chided, "Now look what you've done, General. You've broken the medic." 

Kenobi chuckled softly, "Go back to sleep, Cody. You've been quite badly injured." 

"Bah," Cody huffed. Sawbones sniffed, turning over to watch as his Commander tried to sit up, only to apparently think better of it and lay back down. "I'm not that badly hurt, just a little tired." 

"Mm, tired like that time Boil and Waxer only got 'a little drunk'," Kenobi said, reaching out to ruffle the Commander's hair. He was smiling, though, and looking more relaxed than he had when he'd helped Sawbones into bed. "Everyone is fine, Cody, and we made it off the planet. You can take the time to heal." 

"I'm ordering it," Sawbones added. 

Cody leaned around Kenobi--which he was barely able to do--and glared at Sawbones. "We have an army to run, brother." 

"I can, and will, relieve you of command if you mess with me," Sawbones threatened. 

Kenobi chuckled. "Both of you, calm down. Sawbones, I believe I told you to rest. Cody, the same goes for you. We all, in fact, need to rest." 

"You can't rest in a chair," Cody said with a long-suffering sigh. "Get over here." 

"I may be smaller than you, and have less muscle-mass, but I am not a _twig_ ," Kenobi said, sounding indignant. "I will not fit on that bed." 

Sawbones was giggling, too tired to do much else, at the thought of his General as an actual twig with eyes and. Oh, Force, kriffing hells, he needed sleep, he was losing his mind. 

The Commander was shifting on the bed--Sawbones would be having very strong words with his brother when he could actually string them together in a coherent manner--and beckoned the General over. "I know you did something fancy with the Force, sir, I felt it when the bomb hit," Cody said. "There's a reason we're alive and not paste right now. I remember what that Jedi Healer said, sleep and food is what you need to help do something to restore your balance." 

Kenobi sighed and climbed into the bed, careful not to jostle Cody. "You are an awful, horrible menace, Commander. I refuse to take this sort of rebellion from you. I will simply have to promote you once more." 

"Do it and I'll dump those plants in your rooms out an airlock," Cody said. There was a moment of silence and then, in a ridiculously petulant voice: "I want hair scritches." 

Sawbones buried his head in the pillow and laughed until he cried, but he heard the General's affectionate: "You utter tyrant." 


End file.
